Reply to Government Secretly Obtained AP's Phone Records

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[quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is funny watching Joe in the Morning. After years and years of republicans screaming about leaks, national security, and the press, now its bad to find and stop the leaks. [/quote]

This.

We're going to need to know more about this revelation before pulling the "civil liberties" alarm. From a TPM reader:

[quote]The AP story on the Justice Department “secretly” obtaining phone records from AP strikes me as an unprofessional effort by the AP to make the Department look bad. If you read the story your learn that Justice is in fact investigating a leak to the AP. The merits of such am investigation may be debated but for the AP to write this article in this fashion would be like a politician under investigation issuing a press release about the evil investigation against him. Everyone would understand it for what it is.
More important it is clear to anyone who understands what happens in this type of investigation that the Justice Department subpoenaed phone records. Those records came from the phone company not from AP. They relate to dates and times of phone calls not content. Under the law such a subpoena is perfectly proper and under the law Justice and the phone company must notify the party (in this case AP) that records were subpoenaed.

I think AP protests just a bit too much and seeks to smear Justice (knowing full well that many Republicans will jump on this quickly).[/quote]

(http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/05/a_conflict_of_interest.php)

I think the DOJ would've been within bounds if it had subpoenaed phone records to find out who in the government with a high-level secret clearance is leaking counter-terrorism information to the AP. Which is what this appears to be about.
[/quote]

I disagree. What is the difference between "a leaker" and "a whistleblower"? The press is supposed to be a watchdog over government. Whistleblowers are one of the primary means that the Press gets information about government wrong-doing. If the Government obtains the media's phone records because of a leak tied to security, then what will stop it from doing the same in a simple whistleblower case? The government can claim that any lead has national security implications.

What you are doing is suggesting a willingness to sacrifice liberty for security. As Ben Franklin said, those who do that deserve neither.

[/quote]

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